Scientists answer odd question about Moby Dick

Sperm whales swim in the waters off the the coast of Dana Point, Calif.
(AP Photo/Capt. Dave Anderson/ DolphinSafari.com)

A multinational team of researchers set out to settle what has oddly been a longstanding dispute in scientific circles: whether, in Moby Dick-esque fashion, sperm whales could use their heads to bash seagoing vessels.

And it seems that Herman Melville got it right. Writing in the journal PeerJ, researchers concluded that a part of a sperm whale's head "evolved to function as a massive battering ram during male-male competition." The idea has been "highly controversial" because skeptics say such collisions would damage sensitive organs inside the whale's head, but in a press release, the researchers say connective tissue "may function as a shock absorber." The researchers, who hail from Australia, the US, England, and Japan, didn't determine whether the whales actually butt heads or ram boats, the Washington Post notes, only that they could—and live to fight another day.

Four incidents occurred between 1820 and 1902 in which sperm whales reportedly rammed whaling ships, according to Tech Times, and one of them inspired Melville to write Moby Dick.

The sperm whale's forehead—"one of the strangest structures in the animal kingdom," per the study's lead author—is home to what is called the spermaceti organ (which is filled with oil) and something called the junk sac.

It has been established that the junk sac helps with echolocation. This new research, based on simulated whale crash tests, concludes that it can also be used as a weapon.

The idea is further supported by the fact that the exterior of the junk is often scarred, per the study. "So there you have it, aspiring whalers," the Post writes.